Bittersweet ride for Marshwood pair

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — It pains Nick Dalecki to come to practice every day for the Marshwood High School football team and stand on the sidelines.

It pains him to go to games wearing a jacket and not a jersey.

It pains him that he can’t show first-year coach Alex Rotsko what can he do on the football field, the skills that earned him the starting left tackle position last season as a freshman.

What pains him more is that teammate Reggie Muchemore is right there with him every day — on the sidelines and not on the field.

Both Dalecki, a sophomore, and Muchemore, a senior captain, completely tore ACLs in their knees last spring and have missed the entire season for the Western Maine Class B champion Hawks.

Marshwood, after three consecutive 2-6 seasons, takes a 10-1 record into Saturday’s Class B state championship game against Eastern Maine champion Mt. Blue. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:06 p.m. at Fitzpatrick Stadium in the final of three state championship games.

“It’s heartbreaking, it really is,” said the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Dalecki in reference to Muchemore missing his senior season. “Reggie’s a great player and he was crucial for us both on offense and defense; and this year, his senior year, he can’t play football or basketball. I feel so bad for him because he is our captain. He went 2-6 the past three years and now, his senior year, he doesn’t get to play and we’re 10-1. My heart goes out to him.”

Muchemore started for the Hawks since he was a freshman, rushed for more than 1,000 yards and scored 14 touchdowns year, and was named a team captain heading into his senior season.

“It’s been hard for me (missing my senior year),” Muchemore said, “but I also feel bad for Nick because this should’ve been his breakout season. He was a big player for us last year as a freshman and was going to be great this year.”

Muchemore said he partially tore his ACL at some point during his sophomore season, but played through it because he didn’t know it was torn until completely tearing it last April playing pickup basketball.

“I wish I found out it was torn earlier,” Muchemore said, “then I could’ve got it fixed and played this season.”

Though Muchemore lost his senior season and will never play organized football again, Dalecki will have two years of high school football left.

“I was talking to Coach (Rotsko) and he was saying you never realize what (playing football) is like until it’s gone,” Dalecki said. “He tells us you don’t know you’re going to miss this, but you’re going to, and he told me that I am one of the few kids that can actually build off of that and say I know what it’s like to have this stripped from me and that’s what is going to fuel me.”

Dalecki, who also played basketball as a freshman for Marshwood last year, tore his right ACL in the second quarter of last spring’s Western Maine Class A boys lacrosse playoff loss against Kennebunk.

“I was running to a ball and this Kennebunk kid was running to it too,” Dalecki said. “I am usually the one who tries to hit people because I like to be physical, but the one time I decide to go for the ball, this kid puts a shoulder into me and I tried giving one back and when I pushed off my right foot, my knee just blew up.”

He knew right there the upcoming football season was lost.

“I felt it pop, I felt it rip, I felt everything,” Dalecki said. “I knew I tore it. A good buddy of mine tore his ACL and I knew the road ahead. It killed me because right then, as I am on the ground holding my knee, I knew I wasn’t playing football this year.”

He immediately thought of Rotsko, who had recently been hired as the team’s new football coach.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I am not going to be able to prove myself to this new coach, I am not going to show him what I can do.’ It was awful,” Dalecki said.

Dalecki’s knee was so badly swollen, he didn’t have surgery until July 31, all but ruling him out to play lacrosse this season.

“My surgeon wants me to wait a full year until I play sports,” Dalecki said. “But it feels great right now. I run 3 miles every day, I lift four days a week, I am in the best shape of my life. I need to keep going because I have to make a name for myself. These coaches have never seen me play; they don’t know what I am capable of.”

Apparently, Rotsko had heard of both Dalecki and Muchemore.

“I show up here in June to meet the kids and I saw them both on crutches; I was about ready to turn around and go back to Massachusetts,” Rotsko said. “It’s been great that they both have remained part of the team. They’re at practice every day, they’re at our meetings on Sunday nights, they watch film and they’re supporting their teammates. It’s nice to have them around and it sets a good example to the younger players that here they are, knowing they’re not going to play, and they’re showing up every day.”

Dalecki said the motivation to show up every day to practice is easy.

“I have to show the coach that I am dedicated and I need the boys to know I am still going to be there for them whether I am suiting up or not,” Dalecki said.